Life Is a Box of Chocolates
by llamaBoyPH
Summary: A short one-shot about Elsa and Kristoff cheering Anna up after a long and frustrating day at the royal court. K for momentary coarse language.


**Life Is a Box of Chocolates**

Legal disclaimer: I obviously do not in any way own the Frozen franchise, or anything else Disney has churned out for that matter.

_Anna feels that her new role as the Queen of Arendelle is a little too overbearing for her. Kristoff and Elsa see this and decide to cheer her up._

* * *

"_Dritt_, not this again," Anna muttered as she had to deal with what her advisers suggested. Prior to the coronation, it felt all fun and games once she and Kristoff were crowned Queen and King of their kingdom. "Eh, expectations versus reality. Guess I have to deal with them all,"

Her vision had been a little blurry after the Great Thaw and when Elsa abdicated the throne so she could be with her fellow Northuldran tribesfolk, having to wear round, gold-rimmed glasses in private whenever she had to go through a couple or so dealings. It was rather embarrassing to be seen with those in public, but being the feisty, laid-back woman that she was, she cheekily took it in stride.

Browsing through paperwork and most of the recent edicts she drafted, she felt tired and rather fed up in the wee hours of the night, worrying she wouldn't be up to the standard set by her sister, let alone her parents, King Agnar and Queen Iduna of Arendelle. She knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park for her to fill in her relatives' shoes, but her happy-go-lucky nature seems to have been in conflict with her duty as a monarch. She did press on, however; despite being in her nightgown with her hair unkempt, she remained in her study, trying to decide on what she felt was best for the kingdom and her royal subjects.

At one point she decreed a sleigh-racing series so that she and Kristoff would spectate and officiate what they have enjoyed during their free time, but it was mocked by some of her senior officials for being rather petty.

"But what's wrong having a little fun anyway?" She protested.

"Your Majesty," Jakob, one of her ministers, objected, "You know we need to settle our priorities and not just recklessly spend our budget on things that aren't that important,"

"You know we don't have to be all-work-and-no-play, right?" Anna rebuked. "Look, I understand we have trade partners to deal with and other tribes to establish positive relations..."

"...but can't we just let off some stress for once?"

"Her Highness is right," Kai concurred, "After all the incidents we had especially with Hans and having to reconcile with the Nothuldrans, I have to agree with the Queen,"

Kai gave her superior a wink of approval. Kai had been serving the family since the two sisters were kids, and he had been quite supportive of their exploits. Anna viewed him as something of a father figure; Kai didn't want to be out of place at the royal household and deferred to the royal family as much as he wanted, but he does reciprocate his care and appreciation for his employers.

"Very well then, the races will be open this late December, and I'll task my husband and the Royal Council to organise things," Anna ordered. "There will be prizes for those who win this rally, and this should give our fine kingdom some publicity,"

Looking at the grandfather clock it was half-past two, and her ministers have left her room as it was far too late in the night. Anna sunk to her bed, feeling burned out by all the royal duties. She didn't mind the ceremonies and social life that came with the job, "but boy was this quite a bore!"

Yawning, she reminisced about the time she and her sister went to the pub nonchalantly, having enjoyed a game of arm wrestling and singing sea shanties. It was indeed uncharacteristic of a monarch to go about doing such un-royal things, but the two sisters knew their place and wanted to assure Arendelle that they're humans, too, and not some distant, larger-than-life entity unlike most kingdoms.

"Seriously, Your Highness, that reminded me of what I did when I made a business trip to the Capitancy General of-" Kai recalled, having been cut short by Anna.

"...the Philippines? What about them? Oh, yeah, yeah, I recall that. You and General Matthias were drunk as skunks back then and the Civil Guards in Manila had no clue you were cussing at them in Norsk," Anna laughed.

"Well, I must go for now Your Highness, but let me just inform you that His Majesty and the Queen Emeritus are here," Kai went off, still chuckling at the rather embarrassing moment he had.

"Thank you, Kai," said Anna. She didn't expect Elsa to show up all of a sudden in the middle of the night, but the Queen Emeritus has quite the intuition and wanted to make her sister happy for as much as she could muster.

"Nice job you're doing there so far," Elsa remarked, looking at the paperwork. Anna glanced a rather suspicious stare at her sister, thinking she was being sarcastic.

"Oh, no no no no no," Elsa laughingly assured, letting out a smile, "I meant that in a good way, Anna,"

"Sorry, sis," Anna apologised, "I was just being tired, that's all,"

"I understand," Elsa replied, "Besides, one of the reasons why I abdicated was I felt you deserve to serve our kingdom better than I do,"

"To be honest it was no picnic," Anna remarked, "But you and Kristoff inspire me to be the best I can. For our family,"

"And for Arendelle," Kristoff added. "Oh, and I almost forgot,"

Anna was overjoyed to see her husband, now the King Consort of Arendelle, bring her a box of chocolates. The young Bjorgman, who was until a few years ago a lowly Sami woodsman and ice harvester, was aware of her wife and sister-in-law's affinity for sweets, and as such he decided to treat his wife to a simple yet fun midnight snack. He knew he couldn't do it alone though, so he asked Elsa to tag along with him. Elsa paid a visit to her home town to check on things, and it so turns out that she was at the sweets shop when Kristoff went to buy a box of Belgian chocolates for themselves to enjoy.

"Oh, Kristoff, you shouldn't have," Anna complimented.

"Elsa and I bought them for you," Kristoff replied, "Thought you had a hard time with them laws and all so we went here to cheer you up,"

"That's very nice of you two!" cried Anna.

"Olaf helped with the surprise too," Elsa added.

"Except maybe I may not be able to enjoy such a lovely snack because I don't even have a digestive system to begin with," Olaf cheekily remarked. Olaf had been quite the court jester ever since he came to their lives during Elsa's self-imposed exile. There were times when he had been understandably regarded as an annoyance, but the snowman clearly didn't want to let his friends down.

"So, uh, how's things in Northuldra?" asked Anna.

"Fine, mostly," Elsa replied. "Been tagging along well with Ryder and Honeymaren lately. Got a lot of catching up with Mother's home tribe and all, and I'm glad to have appreciated their culture,"

"Yeah, I'm quite ashamed that Grandpapa did such a terrible thing," Anna tearfully recalled, still in shock with the late King Runeard's atrocity.

"But that's long since passed," Kristoff assured, "We're not beefing with them anymore, nor are we to begin with,"

"'Sides, we'd like to have some quality time here," Elsa said, "Together,"

"Oooh, ooh, I forgot to tell you," Olaf said. "I also brought along a board game,"

"That'll be lovely," Anna replied cheerfully, "I love board games,"

"Which reminds me," Kristoff noted, "I recall such games using _teetotums_ instead of dice lately. The more, ahem, morally-inclined folk wanted nothing to do with them dice because gambling is evil,"

"Yeah I know a guy with a gambling problem," Olaf recalled, "Saw him wasting his fortune at a house while Kristoff was rushing to save Anna so I thought I'd do him a favor,"

"He was a changed man," Kristoff and Olaf mocked in unison.

The sisters both laughed as they were munching some chocolates.

"Oaken was an arse too," Elsa recalled, "Went there at one time when I was looking for supplies for my return trip to Northuldra. He thought he could rip me off but then it dawned on him about how, uh, 'chilly' I am,"

Everyone laughed at Elsa's roast. Elsa isn't as much of a joker as Anna is, but she does know how to deliver a roast when she felt like it. They all enjoyed the board game Olaf brought along, and laughed at how the sisters would goof up as they struggle to grasp the mechanics of the game, having lived a sheltered life in the castle since childhood.

"That's the good thing about you guys," You're always there for me through thick and thin,"

"And everything in between," added Elsa.

"Amen to that," Kristoff remarked.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES: The word "dritt" is Norwegian profanity for "shit". I figured Anna would've been a bit of a foul-mouth but she'd only cuss out of extreme frustration. Teetotums would've been widely used back then in board games and other such stuff as moral guardians of the day wanted nothing to do with something that has gained a gambling stigma to them._


End file.
